MANITOULIN—The Manitoulin Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) reported Monday that they had been busy with calls last week from the first snowfall and are reminding drivers to drive according to conditions.
Constable Al Boyd, community services officer with the Manitoulin OPP, said police responded to eight calls for service following last week’s snow. The most serious of the calls happened on Highway 542 on Thursday when a driver lost control and rolled their car. The driver needed to be extracted from the vehicle by the jaws of life and was sent to hospital in Sudbury with non-life threatening injuries, Constable Boyd reported.
He noted that the police were not advised of bad roads in any of the cases, but drivers admittedly did not drive according to road conditions. Speed or not having winter tires were a factor in all of the incidents, the constable added.
“Even though the posted speed limit says 80 km/h, it doesn’t mean you should be driving that fast,” he warned.
Following last year’s uproar from Ontario drivers, largely from the North, over the winter maintenance of provincial roads by Ministry of Transportation (MTO) contractors the MTO is seeking driver feedback, either in the form of complaint or compliment. This can be done by logging on to www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/feedback/service-commitment.shtml and clicking on ‘winter road conditions.’
Police also responded to a number of vehicle/deer collisions over the weekend—10 from Friday night to Monday morning—and urged drivers to be cognitive of wildlife while travelling Island roads.
With the influx of hunters swelling Manitoulin’s population this week by between 6,000 and 7,000, ride checks will be held throughout the week across the Island. Nine held over the past weekend resulted in 1,500 vehicles checked and 28 Highway Traffic Act charges laid, Constable Boyd said.
“We will be out throughout the week,” he added.
